Travel tidbits from my life

Grenada–Sandals La Source

Spring 2015, after a long winter, I had a case of spring fever. Yes, I know some people love all four seasons and insist that they love experiencing each one. I am not one of those people. I love the warmth and sun of summer and the outdoor activities. I like fall, seeing the beautiful colors of the changing leaves and the cool, crisp weather that comes in. And I enjoy spring, seeing all of nature re-emerging and the days growing longer. Winter? I’m not a fan. I actually despise it. Shorter days, with darkness coming early, send me into hibernation mode. Those are the days that since it’s dark when I get home from work, it’s all I can do not to just crawl in bed and wait for brighter days to return. Literally, winter saps me and makes me a lazier human. I could easily skip winter, every year. Sure, snow is pretty, but only if I don’t have to get out in it and can stay in my bed all day. Summer? I’m up early and can’t wait to get outside in the sun. I know I really should have moved somewhere warmer, years ago. But, I digress.

Spring fever, 2015, I was longing for a touch of sun to re-energize me. Luckily, I stumbled across a sale going on by Sandals Resorts. Up until our honeymoon at Sandals Grande St. Lucia the year before, I had been a skeptic of the price tag Sandals carries. However, that trip converted me into a fan–see my post Honeymooning in St. Lucia. So, you can imagine my excitement of finding a Sandals sale. It was called a fill-the-rooms sale. This equated to a lower price on less popular days of Sunday through Thursday.

As they say in Jamaica, no problem mon! We flew out on a Sunday planning to stay until Friday. There are no non-stops from Missouri to Grenada, so with a lay-over in Atlanta, it took most of the day to get there. We arrived around 10:00 pm. One of the best things about Sandals La Source Grenada? The resort is just around the corner from the airport, so it took us all of 10 minutes to get there after a long day of airports and flying.

You’d think after such a long day, it would be time for something to eat, and bed. However, stepping off the plane into such warm weather had just the opposite effect. The karaoke show was in full swing by the time we got there after grabbing a sandwich on the way down from our room. We don’t do karaoke (in public anymore) but we had a very fun time relaxing in cocoon swings and watching.Usually, on vacation, I can’t wait to get up and tackle whatever I can’t do at home, but this trip was different. I was still trying to emerge from winter hibernation, so I didn’t have that itch to do much. We slept in, and never left our resort on this trip, but that’s ok, we had everything we needed right there.

Sandals La Source Grenada is one of their smaller, more intimate resorts. All rooms are close to the pool and beach, although from our village of rooms, it was all down a steep, short hill. We lounged in the pool a lot. Each morning started with pool aerobics, led by a trainer who was incredibly fit, challenging us to use water weights, and who had us sweating in the pool! I wrapped up each work out with a cocktail afterwards just to cool back off.We took turns experiencing the restaurants on property. One of my favorite things about Sandals is that you never have to make reservations for dinner, there are no “buffets”, and if you’re completely zapped by dinner time, you can order room service. Our first morning there, we discovered there was a Creperie, which served incredible crepes and omelets. This was our favorite and became our morning routine. We also enjoyed that we had a sushi bar, “Soy” that was open early for dinner, and we frequently treated ourselves to “late lunch” there. We also had a beachside restaurant that served sandwiches and light dinners in a casual, outdoor environment, and our favorite was Butch’s Chophouse, which had a double meaning. It was named for the creator and owner of Sandals, Butch Stewart (more about him in a sec) and we also joked that it was named after my Dad. Butch’s Chophouse served lobster in addition to steaks, which demanded more than one visit by us,After our first full day there, we found ourselves at the poolside, open air bar for some live music after dinner. Keep in mind, we usually didn’t finish dinner until late evening, so we were right on time for the show. As we were sitting there people-watching, I saw a man I thought looked familiar flanked by a number of people dressed very professionally. I told my husband I thought that it was Butch Stewart, the owner. After our first Sandals experience I had researched the creation of Sandals. If you enjoy biographies, you should read the story of Butch Stewart, “All That’s Good: The Story of Butch Stewart, the Man Behind Sandals Resorts“. What a fascinating story! My husband joked that there was no way that was the guy I had seen a couple of pictures of. Challenge accepted, I went over and asked him if he was Butch. To my shock, he said yes. (OMG! It’s him!). I told him I was a fan and admired his story and his resorts. I asked if he would mind if we took our picture together, and I will never forget his answer, “My dear, this is Sandals, you can have anything your heart desires”. He had one of the guys with him take our picture with my phone. (Please don’t faint, please don’t faint.) it’s one of my favorite pics ever!The rest of our vacay was very laid-back and relaxing. We talked about going for some dives–Sandals includes diving for free, and Grenada has an underwater sculpture park. But, we never got around to it. We decided that we would save that for our next trip to Sandals La Source Grenada, which would be a longer trip. So, this post is to be continued…